Air Quality in portal areas: an index for VOCs pollution assessment.

The main purpose of this chapter is to assess air quality in portal areas considering Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) emissions which involve local air pollution and increase climate changes. The methodology adopted foresaw the elaboration of a comparative index, called AQIvoc “Air Quality Index related to VOCs pollution”, weighed on the atmospheric concentrations of each VOCs as well as on the dangerousness of the different analyzed substances. In particular, VOCs dangerousness was estimated in proportion to the emission limit values of each substance according with the Italian regulations. In order to pinpoint the most critical areas of each harbours, the methodology foresees the monitoring of VOCs concentrations and the evaluation of AQIvoc values in each intended use areas inside a portal area. Therefore, four portal areas have been chosen as case studies for testing the methodology and obtaining the first results of the application of the AQIvoc index. Finally, this chapter briefly describes some Best Available Technologies (BAT) and best practices for mitigating VOCs concentrations and for improving local air quality in those areas that were particularly characterized by VOCs pollution.